Electrical systems with packaged electrical and electronic components are known and are in use. For example, Motor Control Centers (MCC's) are used for power and data distribution in large and industrial operations. In MCC's, a variety of components, such as switchgear, semiconductor power electronic circuits, programmable logic controllers, motor controllers, and so forth, are housed in large electrical enclosures that may be subdivided into sections or columns, which may be further subdivided into compartments. The MCC includes associated bus bars, interconnections and supporting structures for distribution of electrical power to the various compartments.
Typically, the MCC is connected to a main power line that may feed three-phase AC power to horizontal bus bars of the MCC. The horizontal bus bars, in turn, may feed the three-phase power to vertical bus bars disposed in each of the sections or columns of the MCC. The vertical bus bars, in turn, may feed the three-phase power to various units (which typically include electrical components) that are installed in compartments of a section. The units, in turn, may provide power terminals (conductors), such as copper bus bars, for feeding the three-phase power to a system environment, such as motors, as may be required for various applications.
The horizontal bus bars are typically connected to the vertical bus bars via bolts, screws and/or similar fasteners. However, such connections can loosen over time, which could potentially adversely affect connectivity and temperature control in the system. Consequently, an operator must periodically check the aforementioned connections for application of the correct torque and avoidance of overheating. This can be a time consuming effort which can be farther complicated by the difficulty in accessing connections buried beneath numerous hardware elements. This can also be complicated by the limited time in which it may be acceptable to take such a system offline in order to conduct such verifications. A need therefore exists which eliminates one or more of the foregoing disadvantages.